When Is Enough Enough? —Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 8C/Proper 13 (Luke 12)

Miser --Margret Hofheinz-Döring

Luke 12:13-21 New Revised Standard Version UpdatedEdition

¹³ Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” ¹⁴ But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” ¹⁵ And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” ¹⁶ Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. ¹⁷ And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ ²⁰ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ ²¹ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

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                Are you thinking about preaching a stewardship sermon? If so, then perhaps I have a text for you. In fact, I once preached a summer stewardship sermon on the text. My denomination’s Center for Faith and Giving created a stewardship series, and one of the texts was Luke 12. The title of the sermon series was “Go and Do the Same” with the sermon for that day, based on this text, was “Treasure What Matters.” If you’re interested in taking such a turn, you might find that sermon interesting. For now, I’ll just write my normal reflection, though I may have some stewardship pointers here and there.

                In the prior reading, we found ourselves in Luke 11, where Jesus answered the question of how to pray with Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer (it’s much shorter). Accompanying that prayer was a word about persistence (Luke 11:1-13). As for this reading, we find Jesus surrounded by a crowd of thousands. Chapter 12 begins a section of Luke’s Gospel that warns the disciples and crowd to get ready for the coming day of judgment. So fear God and not the world. Don’t worry about persecution and don’t worry about tomorrow. After all, the world can kill the body but God can throw you into hell (I must admit that I have hell on my mind, having recently completed an essay on the history of hell for a forthcoming book on deconstructing hell). Of course, Jesus’ views of hell aren’t the topic for today.

                When we arrive at our text, beginning in verse 13 of Luke 12, one of the thousands who have crowded around to hear Jesus speak calls out to Jesus. He has a favor to ask of Jesus. Will you tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me? Won’t you serve as the judge between me and my brother? I have a right to my share, and I’d like your help. On another note, this request, and the accompanying parable come well before Jesus offers us the “Parable of the Prodigal Son” (Luke 15:11-32), a parable that has some similarities, at least in terms of the request. Jesus responded to the request by asking who made him (Jesus) judge or an arbiter between the man and his brother. After all, Jesus hadn’t set up shop to serve as a judge—think Solomon and the two mothers, wherein the king demonstrated his wisdom by deciding who was the true mother of the disputed child (1 Kings 3:16-28).

                Instead of arbitrating the dispute between brothers, Jesus responded with a parable that deals with the dangers of wealth, something Luke emphasizes. He prefaced the parable with a warning. “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed” (vs. 15). Remember, Jesus tells the man and the crowd, that “one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” You can already see why this passage might make for a good stewardship sermon. Happiness isn’t to be found in one’s possessions! Of course, heeding this word is not easy, especially in a consumer-driven society. The question many of us face: When is enough, enough? We might not fully embrace Gordon Gecko’s motto that “Greed is Good,” but it’s a thought that goes through our minds regularly.

                Having offered the warning about possessions—and remember that Jesus was an itinerant preacher who depended on the hospitality of those who listened to his message to sustain himself and his traveling band of disciples—Jesus offers a parable that speaks to the question. As we listen to this parable, let’s remember that there is an apocalyptic element to the larger conversation. If the day of judgment is near at hand, what should be our attitude to the future? After all, according to the assigned reading from Ecclesiastes, all is vanity (Ecc. 1:2,12-14; 2:18-23).   

                Here is the starting point of the parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly . . . .” We have before us a wealthy farmer who has had a good harvest. This rich farmer, thought to himself, as a result of this wonderful harvest, “what should I do, for I have no place to store my crops.” In other words, the silos are already full, so he can’t store his crops. So, what to do? He could give away some of his grain, but that’s not the choice he makes. No, he has other ideas.

                Since he didn’t have enough room to store this bountiful harvest, he decides to tear down his old barns and build new, bigger, and better barns. Then he can store his grain and goods. In fact, he’ll enough stored up that he doesn’t have to worry about tomorrow or the foreseeable future. He’s good for many years, so now he can sit back and enjoy life. Yes, he can follow the lead of Epicurus and “eat, drink, and be merry.” Isn’t that the mark of the good life? Isn’t that why we plan for our retirement years. If we have enough resources put away, when the time comes, we’ll be ready. I know that’s my hope as a retired pastor. I look forward to living comfortably in my later years. So, to this point, I can sympathize with the farmer. He’s worked hard. He brought in a good harvest. So, why not enjoy the bounty?

                Jesus isn’t finished with the story. The next word might be difficult to hear and probably difficult to share in a sermon. You see, in this parable, God says to the man, “You fool.” What appears to be an act of wisdom (storing up for the future) is now declared to be foolish. There’s a reason why God says this: “This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So, the man dies before he can enjoy his bounty. Now, if the farmer has planned ahead, he has a will that stipulates who gets the largesse. Isn’t the way it’s supposed to work? Cheryl and I have a will, so we’ve made our plans should the Lord call us home. Again, isn’t that a wise act? Or is this simply an act of vanity? After all, the end could come tomorrow or even sooner. Then what? If you’re a preacher, you may find this to be a rather counter-intuitive passage. Jesus doesn’t suggest the farmer give it all away and go out on the road as an itinerant preacher, at least not in this case, but do you see it coming? Alan Culpepper wisely warns preachers to be careful about using the text as a club to beat up the congregation. As we ponder the passage, Culpepper speaks of “the challenge to live faithfully,” such that can hear a call “to reexamine continually our lifestyle and financial choices, while participating in caring communities, providing for those in need, and persistently challenging societal structures that penalize the poor” [Connections, pp. 213-214]. So, the question for us, especially since the day of judgment still hasn’t arrived—so making plans for tomorrow is a probably smart thing—is how do we live faithfully the call to follow Jesus? Obviously, to faithfully follow Jesus means rejecting Gordon Gecko’s motto of “Greed is Good.” We may need to make that clear (without the rant!).

                Having shared the message, Jesus concludes his answer to the man who asked Jesus to arbitrate between him and his brother: “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” The reading ends there, though we might want to continue into the next paragraph, where Jesus tells his disciples not to worry about their lives, about “what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. “For life is more than food and the body more than clothing” (Lk 12:22-23). While we need food and clothing (think here of that famous hierarchy of needs), the point of the concluding word is that ultimately, it is wise to store up treasure in heaven by being rich toward God. In other words, Jesus points us toward what is ultimate, and in line with the word we hear in Colossians 3, remember that in the end “Christ is all in all” so put to death the earthly and embrace the heavenly! (Col. 3:1-11).

Hofheinz-Döring, Margret, 1910-. Miser, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55516 [retrieved July 23, 2022]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Geizhals,_Margret_Hofheinz-D%C3%B6ring,_Mischtechnik,_1926_(WV-Nr.5579).JPG.